Reproductive Health & Rights

Victoria is one step closer to a more liberal abortion regime after landmark legislation was passed early this morning after a marathon session in the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill was passed 48-28 after 41 admendments were moved and defeated in a marathon sitting that ended at 12.48am.

The next hurdle is the upper house, where debate is due to begin next month and a tighter vote is expected.

After it was passed, Health Minister Daniel Andrews told Parliament that the debate had been "complex and challenging".

"But I think it has been conducted in a spirit that I think does every member and this institution great credit," he said.

Nationals leader Peter Ryan, who opposed the Bill, said the debate was conducted in the right spirit.

The Spanish government has appointed a group of experts to advise on liberalizing abortion law by the end of 2009 or early 2010, the equality minister said on Thursday.

"We can't have a situation where a woman who needs to terminate a pregnancy can have legal problems," Bibiana Aido said.

"That's why we need a serious, calm and high-level debate which contributes to the drawing up of the best law possible."

Spain decriminalized abortion in 1985, 10 years after the death of right-wing dictator Francisco Franco, but while the number of abortions has doubled in the past decade, the practice is controversial in the traditionally Catholic country.

Abortion is permitted in certain cases, for example up to 12 weeks for women who have been raped or up to 22 weeks if a fetus is malformed. It is also available if a birth poses a psychological risk to the mother.

More than half a million women still die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, often bleeding to death because no emergency obstetrical care is available, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

Despite modest progress, particularly in Asia, the global maternal mortality toll remains stubbornly stable due to a lack of financial resources and political will, it said.

More than 99 percent of the estimated 536,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 occurred in developing countries, half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, it said in a report entitled "Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Maternity".

"One of the critical bottlenecks has always been access to highly skilled health workers required to deliver emergency obstetrical care, particularly caesarian sections," Peter Salama UNICEF's chief of health, told a news briefing.

Around 50 million births in the developing world, or about 4 in 10 of all births worldwide, are not attended by trained personnel, according to the report.

A new vaccine has completely eliminated a type of breast cancer tumour in tests on mice, say researchers from Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Men must learn to respect women's reproductive rights, said Social Development Chief Operations Officer Zane Dangor during the South to South workshop on Reproductive rights.

Play Your Part is a particpatory film project that gives a voice to mothers, midwives and children in one African country - and brings those voices to a global audience. Five midwives and a doctor working on the front line of maternal and child heath were trained in film making in order to gather real life stories within their own country of Tanzania. This is not a professionally made advocacy film. This is a documentary made from the heart by people telling their stories for the first time.

Play Your Part uses film and stories from the community to address mother and child health issues centeral to saving lives and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The vibrant soundtrack is written and performed by one of Tanzania's leading singers, Stara Thomas.

The project was created by the White Ribbon Alliance Tanzania, and funded by the UK Governmennt's Department for Internationl Development. Special thanks to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Government of Tanzania for its support.

Antenatal care provides an opportunity to inform and educate pregnant women on a variety of issues related to pregnancy, birth and parenthood. The aim of this exercise is to equip them to make appropriate choices that will contribute to optimum pregnancy outcome and care of the newborn. This concept has made antenatal education programmes a standard component of antenatal care worldwide.

There has been controversy about the impact of antenatal education on pregnancy outcome. However, a recent synthesis of experience with information, education and communication (IEC) makes the point that it works. In other words, an appropriate strategy of IEC leads to or reinforces desirable attitudes and behaviour.

Educated women have better pregnancy outcome compared with uneducated women. This may be partly because they are better informed and make better choices. Literacy among women in many developing countries is low and there are socio-cultural beliefs and practices with adverse effects on pregnancy and birth even among educated women. The "Three Phases of Delay Model" highlights the importance of IEC in the prevention of maternal death by describing the sequence of events from late recognition of danger signs to maternal death. Therefore, an appropriate programme of health literacy or behaviour change communication is highly desirable.